Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of human waste disposal systems. More particularly, this invention relates to ventilated toilet in a bathroom designed for the purpose of disposing of human waste.
Background
For most, the discussion of human waste is one to avoid. There's not much humorous or glamorous about discussions relating to the handling and disposal of human waste. However, regardless of how distasteful such discussions might be to some, there is a growing need to dispose of human waste properly, so as to leave the environment as healthy as possible after excrement. It is incumbent upon all of us that occupy the planet to pay attention to this aspect of life, since each of us contributes to human waste regardless of our station in life. For without proper handling of human waste the quality of life on our planet will rapidly decrease.
Everyone can agree that as long as there is human life, there will be human waste. As the human population increases, the amount of waste needing to be handled properly also increases and perhaps even exponentially so since old dumping methods are not only unsafe, but impractical as we run out of space for handling such waste using traditional methods.
In a typical structure, there is a commode for housing a toilet. The toilet is housed in the commode. Typically for privacy, the commode is provided with a door. The door also has the effect of restricting airflow and reducing the effect of malignant odors on the rest of the environment, when the door is closed. The toilet includes plumbing and electrical connection to accomplish its purpose and dispose of waste into a septic or city sewage system. The commode may even be provided with an exhaust fan in many cases. Typically, laws in most states in the US require the commode to have an exhaust fan for building new or improving structures.
One of the more obnoxious bi-products of human waste is the odor produced during defecation and urination. The bi-products of human waste mix with the ambient air and then permeate the bathroom or commode. Sometimes, for example in a private home, the odor becomes so obnoxious that even closing the commode door won't prevent the odor from permeating the house or apartment or residence. Of course, bathroom doors are designed for privacy and not for hermetically sealing in odors.
The obnoxious odor requires others sometimes to flee the residence for the time in which it takes to clear or de-odorize the air. In some cases, it can be quite some time before the odor is removed, even with an exhaust fan. Alternatively, the residents may use air freshener. However, some air fresheners may prove to be harmful.
As noted above, in the past, commodes have been equipped with exhaust fans for expelling the waste air. It will be appreciated that to a limited extent these types of devices have proved to be effective. However, such devices tend to be inefficient because the entire volume of air in the commode is subjected to the exhaust fan. The volume of air in the toilet bowl from which the odor originates and immediately adjacent thereto is many times smaller than the air in the commode itself. For example the air in the commode is typically 700 cubic feet while the air in the bowl and immediately surrounding area is less than one cubic foot. When one considers that in the US alone over 16 billion rolls of toilet paper were used and it is estimated that over 4 million cubic feet of exhaust air needed to be moved the issue of removing human waste exhaust air is indeed, substantial.
Not only is the present method of clearing the waste air from the commode inefficient, as described above, but it has a tendency to waste considerable energy resources. As described above, present methods of evacuating the waste air requires that the entire volume of air in the commode to be involved with waste air removal. Given that the volume of air in the entire commode is many times that of the area of the toilet bowl, there is considerable more energy required to remove the waste air from the commode than the toilet bowl.
What is needed is a more cost effective and more efficient method and apparatus to remove waste air from a commode or similar area for the removal of human waste.